Secret Triskaidekaphilia

A splendiferous day to you! Join me for a mug and a virtual treat. Better grab a couple. Got a long one for you today. You only gain virtual calories anyway but you can get rid of them by doing some virtual exercises… such as walking up 13 imaginary flights of stairs. I got a note the other day from my friend Paul in Tokyo . The elevator in his building went off and he and his good lady, Neng, had to walk up real stairs to his apartment on the 13 th floor. Ugh! That got me to thinking…always dangerous, eh!

Many buildings don't have a 13 th floor. They are as rare as hens' teeth. Unsuperstitious developers who build high rises with a 13 th floor often find themselves with many offices or apartments vacant on that floor. People are fearful of anything to do with that number.

Triskaidekaphobia is from the Greek tris meaning "3," kai meaning "and," and deka meaning "10". Together it is fear of the number 13. But why are so many people afraid of it?

Superstition around thirteen has been variously associated to Norse mythology, the Last Supper, the Knights Templar and the fall of Constantinople .

Ancient Persians believed the twelve constellations in the Zodiac controlled the months of the year, and each ruled the earth for a thousand years at the end of which the sky and earth collapsed in chaos. Therefore, the thirteenth is identified with chaos and the reason Persians leave their houses to avoid bad luck on the thirteenth day of the Persian Calendar, a tradition called Sizdah Bedar.

The Vikings believed that Loki in the Norse pantheon was the 13th god. More specifically, Loki was believed to have engineered the murder of Balder, and was the 13th guest to arrive at the funeral. This is perhaps related to the superstition that if thirteen people gather, one of them will die in the following year.

Some Christian traditions have it that at the Last Supper, Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th to sit at the table.

On Friday 13 October 1307, the Knights Templar were arrested by Philip IV of France .

Tall buildings around the world traditionally skip thirteen in their floor count.

Anyone dedicated to trivia will note that the code name for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 was Exchange 12, but the next major release of its mail server was code named Exchange 14. Microsoft skipped 13 for the same reason that many hotels don't have a thirteenth floor—superstition!

On the other hand, one man's fear is another's favour. Contrarians such as NBA player Wilt Chamberlain and NFL quarterback Dan Marino, both wore thirteen on their jerseys. They might enjoy a stay at Fairmont Hotels & Resorts which can provide accommodations on that rarest of all spaces… the infamous thirteenth floor! The Plaza , a Fairmont Hotel in New York, Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth in Montreal, The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver , Fairmont Vancouver Airport , and Fairmont Dubai , all of which embrace their inner thirteenth floors.

Now personally, I like the number 13. If you were a regular and cheerful customer in a bakery and usually ordered a dozen of something… let's say doughnuts for the sake of argument, okay? Well, every once in a while, the baker would toss in a free doughnut…the 13 th one which became known as a Baker's Dozen . Want one?

To be continued…

Bob